This isn't the best series I've ever read, but the story itself and the way the author weaves past, present and future in the first volumes is great. Though after they stop showing some POVs (when we come to see the complete timeline). It's an agony waiting to see the present catch up (they should've spread out the initial events more, but I guess they didn't want to make such differences from the web novel). At times there are many drastic developments that make me drop the series's rating.. But there are still many worthy twists but It could cut out 4-5 volumes.

I got here from the manga so I'm pleased to know that the LN don't differ at all (you do miss the other reincarnations and POVs so it's fine with only reading those chapters). It's quite an engaging story, thought I prefer the manga adaptation up until she evolves into aracne (from that point onwards lots of details are lost since most her inner monologues are omitted).

All in all the puppets are apparently not that relevant in the WN (they're more like a collective character that act weird). I was quite disappointed when they weren't fleshed out in the latter chapters. This happens along with some things dragging out in the latter half volumes. But this was to be expected from an adaptation since there are clearly various important story nodes up until volume 14, but the author still forced some developments that could've perfectly been omitted mostly to stay consisten with the "future POVs". BUT they mostly fail since they're the only events that are repeatedly mentioned before happening. In the end you feel as if the autor is pointing out these events and saying "See it was all planned from the beginning".

I end up comparing this series to the other reincarnation stories and this one takes the cake. All other ones are about pansies who don't use their powers and are complete pacifists. MC accepts what shes become and has no hesitation to kill anyone in order to survive. I've been too disappointed with other series leaving everyone alive whether it is a murderer, killer, rapist and the like. MC could care less and killed people because they destroyed her home and target her as a monster. MC is basically a mass murderer if she is pissed off or at people who come at her as an enemy. Absolutely the only reincarnation story that I've read that doesn't disappoint me with leaving enemies alive because they are scared to kill people.

Other Japanese LN have a douche bag antagonist which usually annoys me because he's there forever without getting whats coming to them. This series doesn't disappoint me with those guys getting killed left and right. Finally not a passive protagonist! Ahhhh it's been so long since I've read a reasonable MC reincarnation story in a Japanese LN.(Of course it is not counting Rimuru from Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken, which is also a masterpiece.)

... Last updated on August 11th, 2018, 11:38pm

A story about a spider.

In novels, books, mangas or movies, the title is always the first and most important reference to the story. The next is the cover, followed by the description.

So why am I counting these obvious things here? It's because the author of "Kumo desu ga, nani ka?" likes to use the element "foreshadowing" in a way, leading the reader either jumping to conclusions or not noticing anything at all. (sometimes I'm reading through boards with old posts discussing over the plot just to get amused about how wrong they all were xD)

As a story using plot twists and secrets as a main element, writing a review without spoiler is pretty hard. But to grasp the essence from such a well thought out masterpiece its important to know that there is waaaaaaay more than anyone would expect after reading through the first 100 chapters.

Some facts first. Kumo desu ga, nani ka? Is the most popular Webnovel 2015 with currently about 370 chapters. Yeah it just started 2015. The author is pretty quick in writing and the chapters arent very big in the first place. In december 2015 it got a Lightnovel and manga adaption. Apparently the LN is selling like hotcakes in Japan. That aside, it's one of the few webnovels which actually gets translated into english almost catching up the Japanese raws. There are even translations into german, spanish and french for what I have seen so far.

So, what is this story about, getting liked by so many people already? I'll try to reduce the spoiler to a absolute minimum.

Actually, the story is plit into 3 main arcs.

1. Dungeoncrawling & grinding. The prologue.

As a novel about reincarnation into a RPG fantasy world, our protagonist wakes up as a low ranking newborn spider into the most deadly environment on this world, fighting for her life from second 1 onwards. She's neither overpowered, nor does she got any cheatskills besides her human intelligence.

That setting was enough for me personally already to start reading actually xD I never could have imaginated where that would lead to...

As I mentioned grinding, you can see similarities between other reincarnation novels here. As she levels up, she's getting stronger of course, just to spot another even stronger monster behind the next wall. Her only weapons which makes her superior than her environment are her willpower, intelligence and pride.

The main story is completely told from her perspective which results into funny monologues about different things she encounters. What seemed to be a horror survival thriller gets on a lighter level due to the way she's seeing the world, which is needed to present the novel to a mainstream audience. As a gamer in her past life, she's mentioning other manga or rebirthnovels quite frequently, making her even more likable and easier to symphatize with.

2. Who wakes up inside a dungeon with only monsters and monsters and monsters would like to leave this dungeon as soon as possible of course. But living among humans as a monster, unable to speak with a human mind only... you can imagine problems incoming. After several encounters with the humans living on this world, the point of view moves to that of these humans sometimes, giving her actions an interesting additional perspective (oh how I loved these chapters xD).

3. After a certain point in the story the plot thickens in an unexpected and fascinating way. What feels like the end is actually just the beginning of the story. If you had skipped all the side stories until that point you'd think, "Huh, thats not the end!?" No lol, that was just the prologue!!!

"Sidestories" is a frequently used element used for this webnovel. They are used to tell the story of the classmates who died in that incident as well. Here's the usual cliche hero who got reincarnated into a fantasy world with a cliche personality. As being placed after every 5th or 10th chapter of the main story, they seem to disturb the reading flow alot at first, making you want to skip them. But they are important to understand this world. As they reveal elements our little spider can't experience while fighting in the dungeon, they are used to get a different perspective on that world.

Every single one of them will confuse the reader. Is that happening on the same timeline? Who's that? What the hell is happening? If that's the future, what has happened with Kumo-chan

The author is having fun teasing you alot with them. But everything will be explained at some point. Even the whole skill system. Everything has its reasons. Nothing happens at random, just be patient. At some point you will follow the plot and stop, just to read old side chapters, the description and even the title again and think "Oh my fucking god..." It's just that kind of a story.

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Actually I'd have to review the 2 main arcs plus the connecting arc individually, as they are in a way so different from each other and yet still part of the same story. Most of the comments here on MU are only based on the very 1. part btw. If you don't like all this grinding and talking about skills and how to use them bores you, but you really like a thick well made plot, you'd have to force yourself through that prologue (I enjoyed it!!)

Later in the novel, with the sidestories revealing the past of other characters there is so much going on in the story that its hard to follow sometimes. There is enough plot to fill even standalone series with these short sidestories.

...just to note some elements. (these arent hardcore spoilers, just hiding them before anyone gets mad. I'm just careful)

I could stop here but I wanna talk about the heroine. As a story being told from her perspective, it's important to know whether she's likeable or not, right?

Kumo, Kumo-chan or Kumoko-chan (Nickname given by herself and readers) is a very fascinating character. Unlike the most MC's in reincarnation novels, she's an unsocial sociopathic shut in who spent most time with gaming in her previous life. At the same time, she's absolute lovely, silly, cute and loyal to her values - just trying to live a simple life avoiding troublesome things whenever possible. Her personality eventually develops into a pragmatic badass doing whatever is needed to survive without losing any of her lovable characteristics. She's the main reason why this novel got so popular in the first place, after all.

You are strong in every way. You taught me the fear of death and you overlooked me in the past because I was weak. I was right to fear you then. Thank you. Now, you will die." - Kumo-chan vs Earth Dragon Alaba.

Nai waaaaa!!!

So whats "Kumo desu ga, nani ka?"? It's a masterpiece in the making.

... Last updated on February 3rd, 2016, 4:27pm

I liked the first part of the series, but my interest waned as it continued and the plot developed. I'm a bit past 212 (Last chapter I read was The Pope and the Ninja) but I really just don't care enough to continue reading the series.

I enjoyed the adventures of Kumo-Chan, the girl reincarnated as a spider, as she dreamed of not getting eaten. The story stops being that.

... Last updated on November 12th, 2015, 7:04pm

Well let me say why, the story is a great concept of a popular setting where the main hero is reincarnated and becomes super op. The twists are 1 our protagonist is a she and 2 she is not the only one reincarnated, their stories are told as side stories which is needed for world development. While the cencept is fresh and the main character is also unique the change is well accepted. But the constant attack of the wall of status is heart breaking. There will be several chapter dedicated to explaining skills and status which would be fine if it wasn't one right after the other. While it does eventually die down it still pops up every now n again, even in the side stories. However my last gripe has nothing to do with the story itself but the translation. I will be honest there where many times I had to reread it, but if you look past the chapters devoted to status explaining and the occasional bad translation you will find an incredible work of art. Truly a master piece in the making.

... Last updated on October 20th, 2015, 6:19am

The story of Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? isn`t quite what it seems at the beginning. Yes, there are skills, the game-like feeling and the usual weak to OP evolution for the MC but the similarities with the rest of the reincarnated into fantasy world novels stop here.
There are some problems with the building early on - the realism level is low, it takes very long for the heroine to meet something different than the monsters, the clues to the plot are few and far between - the reader is constantly teased with half truths.
On the up side - taking such a long time for the build up, the reader starts empathizing with the heroine. The clues for the world mystery are gradually reveled and it keep the interest up. The story becomes more complicated and engaging.

Abyone will find the heroine fun and will come to cheer for her.
The novel is really good and easy to get into. Recommended

@tallrice, if you hadn`t skipped the side-stories, you wouldn`t have problem with the world building -.- After you finish them I can bet that you will have regrets for skipping them in the first place.

while this is yet another reincarnation novel it's a nice change from the mainstream.
the mc is female and a spider, there is no harem, and theres pretty much no one else around for her to talk to.
in almost all of the reincarnation novels i've read so far the mc is loser guy from our world who suddenly becomes cool and has a ton of women chasing after him for no reason (usually includes lots of accidental groping). having read so many, i'm pretty tired of that particular adolescent-boy-wish-fulfillment-storyline and its nice to stumble onto something different.
i like it so far though all the excessive stat displays make my eyes go crossed, especially after c100, (makes me wonder if the author gets paid by the word count the way some of the chinese web authors do).
if you like reincarnation stories and are looking for something a little different from the usual horny teenage boy mc than this one is def. worth checking out!

I would definitely recommend reading this. It's very entertaining and I find the MC to be pretty likable.

Some fair criticism:
1) The first 60-ish chapters are quite slow action-wise. these are more about the MC exploring, trying to understand her abilities, and discovering her place on the food chain.
2) The MC avoids death by pure luck a few times, although to be fair, the MC was just at the wrong place at the wrong time for most of these encounters.
3) The MC's intelligence is a little inconsistent. Sometimes I can't tell if she's a bumbling fool or an (evil?) genius.
4) The MC eventually becomes pretty OP. By, like, chapter 80. Which is pretty gradual IMO.
5) Things start going to hell for the side characters a little too soon for me to reaaaaally care what happens to them. One of them (the sub-MC?) is pretty likable and well established, but the other ones are a little too underdeveloped for me to care much about what's happening, which is unfortunate because some of them (like a certain duke's daughter) are going through some rather interesting stuff, but I feel like it's glossed over. It seems like maybe this is changing for the better though.

... Last updated on August 27th, 2015, 8:31pm

Yet another "died and resurrected in a new world" story going around these days. So whats the hook?

Two things:

1. She is reborn as a (monster) spider.
2. She is outright -alone-. (As of chapter 106)

Now you might think, 'Oh so shes OP, right?' And you'd be wrong... initially.

She (yes, the protagonist is a girl) starts off at rock bottom. As a spider, she is born into a world where her spider siblings and (presumed) spider mother/father being cannibalize each other upon birth. Not only that, 'common sense' immediately goes out the window. Human speech is an outright impossibility. Approaching other humans is suicidal. Simply breaking her old human habits is stretched across multiple chapters.

Unfortunately, once she gets over the initial hump and the story takes a nose-dive. All sense of tension is lost as it becomes readily apparent that the story will readily feed and heal her when necessary. Fatal enemies are avoided not by cunning or strategic thinking, but by dumb luck.

And then, of course, she becomes OP. Every few chapters the protagonist will review her status and we are constantly reminded of her constantly growing, massive list of skills/magic, stats and titles.

Am I being overly harsh? I am, but thats because the story starts strong before weakening. If things change dramatically (which wouldn't be hard to do considering the fact that the protagonist has literally been talking to herself for over 100 chapters), the story could really do some very interesting things. If it doesn't...

Cute!!

There are many many many reincarnations out there. Most are just plain human to human while some are human to monster and other random ones, such as human to labyrinth or dragon to human. At the end of the day, most of these are rather serious, like right away. I can't say if Kumo will get all serious like the other reincarnations but as of now, Kumo is like a chilled comedy with some adventures.

Even the renown Re:Monster, which I love, is basically just human to human reincarnation with two special ability, evolution (rank up) and absorption. If you think of it that way, then it's just a plain human to human. Not sure if Kumo will become a spider with a spider body and an upper human body, or even humanoid, but, at the very least, for 100 chapters, she's pure arachnid. Also, the evolution (rank up) paths are not as random, like goblin > hob goblin > dhampir? > vampire? Just why is a goblin evolution into a vampire? While it's "innovative", it's breaking all common sense that the Western culture built.

You don't have any of those non-sense in Kumo, at least not now. She's just a small deteriorating spider evolving into a rare combat oriented spider. Until the day she evolves into a tiger, for example, I think this series makes more sense and seemed like it had more thought placed into it.

In short, you basically have a cute, clumsy female introvert that's stuck inside the body of a spider and she struggles in the most silliest ways. It needs the "Slice of Life" genre. Not a real "Slice of Spider's Life" but it has that feel to it.